Belts are used in a variety of applications to transmit power. During use, the belt may tend to elongate due to the tensile forces on the belt. The elongation slackens the belts, which leads to slippage, so that the belt does not transmit the power as efficiently.
To reduce the detrimental effects of belt elongation, tensioners are commonly used to reduce the slack so that a belt continues to efficiently transfer power even as the belt elongates. Specifically, a pulley attached to a tensioner engages the belt. The tensioner biases the pulley into engagement with the belt to reduce the slack. Although tensioners are effective in eliminating the slack, the known tensioners may face premature failure when operating in harsh environments.